How can we best practice Pratyahara?

Our approach in simple words:

1. First establish the fact that you are attached to something or somebody. Feel the
limitation of this attachment. You don’t know? Then it is very simple: you only have to
look at all those things that attract you. Then you ask yourself the question: Can I do
without? When the answer is “no”, then you have an attachment. Trick question: Can
you do without brushing your teeth? You can also check whether you are having your
life lived for you by others. Living in the drag of daily life is also the result of
attachment.
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2. Establish the fact: “I want to be free of this attachment.” Be convinced of your decision.
Take control in your own hands again: “By the way, I am the one who determines what
happens here!” When you do that you actually make your intellect function. That in
itself is enough to come loose from attachment. Subsequently you always keep the
initiative. That is safer for you. Have you ever asked yourself the question: “What am I
actually doing here?” or “Do I support this?” This is very healthy, you know. It helps
you to detach.
3. Let the detachment that follows arise slowly. Let go little by little. Do not let go all at
once, for that would be violence. To let go of everything at once is not so good for your
being. Do it slowly, so that you can get used to it. It is easier this way. Especially when
you play with it and rationalize it. Feel comfortable to say: “Tomorrow I will continue
with this detachment!”
4. Focus on a new object or person. Dive into something completely different, something
that really appeals to you. Transfer your attention more and more towards another
interesting subject/object. Sniff the smell, feel the touch and then come back each time,
until you have made the object your own. At the same time you will have detached
yourself from your former attachment.
Swami Yogeshvaranand Sarasvati explains in detail:
“It is said that when Buddhi is involved in external objects, the Indriya’s will focus on those
objects. When Buddhi stops being involved, the Indriya’s will follow Buddhi. So Buddhi
activates the Indriya’s.
This process is explained at the hand of the example of the queen bee. The bees follow the
queen. They gather where she settles. When she leaves, the bees will follow her. In the same
way the Indriyas will follow Buddhi.
Yogi Goraksha says: As a tortoise withdraws its extremities, so should a Yogi withdraw his
Indriya’s. Naturally Buddhi will remain active. It will continue to discriminate, but the
Indriya’s will pull away from the external objects and remain calm. However it may be, the
Indriyas are not in direct contact with the soul. The author rightly notices that the Indriya’s
only follow or imitate Buddhi. Consequently, when Buddhi is under control, the senses are
automatically under control as well. To control the senses in another way is therefore not
necessary.
The Bhagavad Gita warns for the tremendous power of the Indriya’s. As soon as an object
attracts a human, that object will affect him and Manas will also be attracted by it as a result. A
sensible human therefore keeps his Indriya’s constantly under control. When they are under
control, Buddhi will become calm (Gita 2-60, 61). A sensible Yogi therefore should keep his
Indriya’s under control with mental and physical efforts. Only then will he be able to reach
perfection in Yoga. One single uncontrolled sense is enough to let him fall. His intellect or
knowledge will become, as it were, like water in a leaking barrel.
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The senses usually go towards their objects. If Manas would follow, it would go down like a
ship in a storm (Gita, 2-67). If a human has common sense and he has trained his Manas well,
his senses will be controlled, like trained horses are well controlled by a trained charioteer. In
an unwise human, who does not control his Manas, the senses will run wild like a stampeding,
petulant horse (Kathopanishad, 2-1-5,6).
Without control of the Indriya’s it is impossible to free oneself of the shackles of worldly life.
The causes of this attachment are the senses that follow their objects. Only when Manas is
under total control Pratyahara can be perfected. Without this, one cannot succeed in Yoga.”
From what should we detach?
Swami: “The objects that we should detach from can be divided into two categories according
to the old scriptures:
1. The gross objects, Dristha, or all that is visible.
2. The subtle objects, Anushravika.
If one wants to achieve realization of the Self, to be free of suffering and successful in Yoga, it
is absolutely imperative that you free yourself from the gross objects as well as the subtle
objects. Pratyahara could only be perfect when Buddhi is completely free from attachment of
the objects. The reason for this being that Buddhi is solely responsible for the attachment.
Would you be able to quietly pass by these gross objects?
In this context the Yoga philosophy says the following: The Drishta objects are those objects
that give enjoyment to the gross senses, are visible everywhere and are used on a daily basis by
everybody. For example bad and good smells, foodstuff with variable tastes and objects that
are pleasant for the eyes and pleasant to touch. Belonging to this category is also: wealth,
possession, parents, spouse, son, daughter, friends, people, disciples, and even animals.
The nature of Anushravika objects can be studied in the scriptures or it can be learned from
respectable persons. They cannot be perceived physically. Only the Yogi in Samprajnata
Samadhi can perceive and know them. Only the subtle body can enjoy them. Consequently
subtle words, touches, forms, tastes and smells are things that can only be enjoyed by the best
of Yogis. The Yogi uses them in Samprajnata Samadhi, but only by those who have a total
control of the five subtle elements (Tanmatra’s).
When one is totally detached from the enjoyments of the objects (of both categories) one will
achieve Vashikara Pratyahara. On the basis of the two above categories of objects one can
classify Pratyahara as an internal or an external step. Only when the Yogi controls the five
Tanmatra’s and obtains knowledge about them, will it be useful to speak of detachment from
Anushravika. Therefore there is usually only mention of the contact of the Indriya’s with their
objects (Pratyahara as an external step). This is in accordance with Patanjali’s views.”
Sorts of Pratyahara
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To achieve successful Pratyahara it is utterly essential to practice detachment in its four forms:
1. Progressive (Yatamana) detachment. The feelings of love and hate have become one
with (or rooted in) our organs forcing them towards their objects. First you become
aware of how these feelings affect the senses, followed by the withdrawal, as opposed
to your being attached, of the senses from the objects.
2. Exclusive (Viyatireka) detachment. When you are engaged in above mentioned
progressive detachment you become aware of many of your attachments. You decide
from which attachments you want to distance yourself first, after which you exclusively
focus upon that task. With this approach you can deal with each of your attachments
step by step until you are not attached to anything anymore.
3. One-sense (Ekendriya) detachment. In case of a stubborn attachment it can happen that
you are not able to detach yourself. The intellect seems to have no power of
persuasiveness and the impressions touch you into the depths of Citta. Ensure that such
disturbances cannot take place. Smoking can be such a stubborn attachment. Choose
one element (one-sense) of smoking. For example the lighting up of the cigarette, the
buying of cigarettes or the inhaling of the smoke. You take this one sense as the target
of your detachment. When you are finished, you focus upon the next sense, and you
continue in this way until you are completely finished with your attachment.
4. Controlled (Vashikara) detachment. The Yogi reaches the stage in which there are only
some deep-lying impressions left. They do not appear easily. Even when the senses
come close to their objects the intellect remains calm. As a result the senses will remain
calm as well. When this state of detachment is achieved with the following four
elements, Citta, Buddhi, Manas and Indriya’s, it is called Vashikara. As a matter of
exercise you can challenge the Indriya’s by visiting the former object of attachment and
to see to what extent you succeed in controlling yourself.
Why is practicing Pratyahara of vital importance?
One night, early August 2000, I had a dream. I found myself being in Amsterdam again, on the
Prins Hendrikkade, where I taught Yoga for 9 years. There were a lot of people. But not all of
them had good intentions. Four young men, with Arabic appearances closed in on me.
Threatening. I walked away, but that did not help. They continued to follow me. Then I
realized that I was lost. I could not escape from them. They surrounded me, and the leader, the
oldest in the group, pulled out a knife. I asked them desperately: “Why do you want to kill
me?” To which he mumbled something in French: “We do not care … Engagement …
Engagement …” And just before he stabbed me I woke up.
What was this all about! How was I supposed to interpret this dream? The beautiful, calm
nature of Southern France helped me. I realized that I had wandered off from my task, to which
I had engaged myself: help people. Instead I had been primarily occupied with myself, how to
get by financially, whether I received enough recognition, how troublesome my little daughters
were and how few people reacted to advertisements of the school. The message was exactly
what I needed. It was clear: to stray from your task means death. What a warning indeed!
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That afternoon I went into contemplation. The English word “Renunciation” (detachment) had
taken total possession of me. I had never before experienced Pratyahara so intensely. Then
suddenly I felt an enormous liberation. Light broke through. Bliss installed within me. I came
loose from all attachment. I was alive again. How stupid had I been!
Swami: “It is said in the Gita that one acts in compliance with his nature and that nothing can
be done about it. As is the tongue naturally fit to taste. When something tastes delicious it is
good for the Yogi and also for the cook. The experience of their tongues is identical. What
tastes sour to the tongue of the Yogi, tastes sour for the others and what tastes sweet for his
tongue tastes sweet to others as well. The tongue cannot go against its nature. Then why would
one do something as difficult as trying to control the senses themselves? The answer according
to the Gita: “Deep in the Indriya’s there will always be hate, love, attraction and repulsion.
Desirous objects attract while non-desirous objects repel”.
Attachment and aversion are opposites of harmony (Sattva) and are wise men’s enemies.
Therefore these emotions should be avoided in order to not disturb the intellect. One should not
fall prey to emotions hiding deep within the intellect, always seek the pleasurable or be
repelled by the unpleasant. We should not allow ourselves to be upset when something
unpleasant happens, but also should the pleasurable things not delight us. The experience of
taste belongs to the senses, and this taste is responsible for the attraction and repulsion in the
intellect. This should not be allowed to happen. One should remain totally detached.
When the intellect sticks to objects, it is caused by feelings of attraction and repulsion. These
are the mother and father of all sorrows (afflictions). Attraction and repulsion destroy the
discriminative powers of the intellect. This makes even Yogi’s and wise people go astray from
their paths. This reminds me of an event that happened during my student days. Swami Vijnan
Bhikshu studied together with us. He had a thorough knowledge of Urdu, Arabic and Sanskrit.
He was good at debating, was a gifted person, detached and always joyful, but he was not a
Sannyasin of calm intellect. Years later I met him in Dharmashala hill, dressed in white, and he
told me that he had changed his name and returned to normal family life. This change was
caused by attachment. Do beware of your intellect. Only then will you be able to perfect your
practice of Pratyahara.
Another example: The wise Parashara crossed a river with his boat. The young and charming
daughter of the owner of the boat sat next to him and he felt enchanted by her presence. This
became his spiritual downfall. Elevated persons fall deep when they allow themselves to be
influenced by feelings of attachment. Therefore it is desirable to protect yourself against such
strong feelings.
According to the Gita it is the strong feelings of attraction and repulsion that cause the senses
to be attracted to their objects. But those who possess self-control and engage in meditation on
the higher Self and on the Highest Self will not be distracted by such feelings. In them those
feelings will even be totally destroyed. (Gita, 2-64)
The Upanishad says: “When the five senses together with Manas and Buddhi are quiet one is in
the most pleasant state”.
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The Upanishad defines Pratyahara as follows: “The Yogi who has attained this state is free of
the chain of life and death. Upon reaching this final step of external Yoga concentration,
contemplation and Samadhi are quickly attained.”
What else can help me practice Pratyahara?
“Pranayama helps to achieve Pratyahara. A student, who is attached to something, sometimes
fails to go deeper into the reciting of a Mantra. When nothing else helps, he can practice
Pratyahara. However, it is less subtle than recitation or contemplation.”
Pranayama helps Manas and Buddhi to take distance from those things that attract your
attention, so that it can be brought back to reciting. Pranayama purifies the senses and helps
controlling them. It is for this that the Smriti’s and other scriptures praise Pranayama. Manu
says that as metal is purified by the fire, the senses are purified by control of the energy (Manu
6-71). One should destroy attachment and so on by Pranayama and Pratyahara and his sins by
concentration (Dharana).
By practicing contemplation one can rid oneself of atheism, anger, greed and jealousy (Manu
6-72). A determined Yogi cannot be careful enough when dealing with the control of the
senses. A single uncontrolled sense can be the cause of total destruction. We take an incident in
Amritsar as an example:
“The holy Ramu practiced austerity by a little pond for 26 years. When this did not help him to
master his desires, he moved to a spring. Here too he did not speak a word and he only stood
there. However, he did beckon to the women that came to collect water. His behavior did not
make him very popular. People insulted him and threw shoes and stones at him. He did not
react. One day I asked him: “Why doesn’t this bother you?” and he replied: “I practice this to
destroy my deeply rooted sexual desires”. And I said: “For sure you can deal with those evil
desires with the right knowledge?” to which he replied: “For the past 26 years I have tried to
control my genitals and I failed. I hope that I can be successful through all my sufferings
(bruises, insults and so on). If people attack me like this when I practice Pratyahara on other
objects, what will happen?” He made it a habit to fast 10 days without interruption and without
begging for food. He observed the things around him in silence without going anywhere. He
would not put on clothes when it was cold. When someone offered him a blanket, he did accept
it, for otherwise he would sleep without cover. I had the impression that he was striving for
perfection. He could sit for hours, or wash him for lengthy stretches of time. He drank together
with the animals and accepted food from anyone. People thought that he had become insane.
Later they put him into an iron cage because he behaved (outwardly) like an animal. Sitting in
the iron cage he mumbled: “However a human being, I have lost my way. I have seen other
people torturing themselves to gain control over one single sense. The cause of all misery lies
within sensual pleasures.”
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The Gita (3a-41) says:
O Arjuna, control your senses first and kill the desire that is hidden within you, for it will
destroy your knowledge. Subdue desire, for it is the enemy.
Other citations that can be of help, Gita (2-60,61,67):
For know: the senses provoke tormenting the brain – even of he who is wise and strives for the
sublime and tear away his thoughts.
Though he who has all under control, repose in me the highest virtue, for being the master of
his senses, his intellect is in balance.
For he who lets his spirit be driven by flurries of his lust, his knowledge will be washed away
like a ship in a storm at sea.
Kathopanishad (1-3,4,5,6):
Know that the Self is the rider, the body the vehicle, the regulating intellect the driver, and the
willing spirit the rein.
The senses are called horses, the objects their terrain, that what is connected with senses and
spirit, the wise call the Self, the hedonist (the observer of the impressions).
But who has insight, and is reined in by the spirit, with his senses obedient as horses obedient
to their driver.
The biggest problems
Among the senses two are most difficult to conquer: the tongue among the Jnanendriya’s and
the genitals among the Karmendriya’s. If you conquer these two, the remaining senses will be
easier to deal with.
Swami: “In the past I once made oil with the following ingredients: potassium nitrate, sulfur,
ammonium chloride, the ashes of a whole barley plant and devil’s dirt (asafoetida, which
stimulates appetite). I put it in a bottle. Years afterward, by coincidence, I spotted that bottle
again, of which the contents had become a sort of acid. Only two drops I dropped upon my
tongue, with the result that I lost my taste for five months. During that time I even forgot what
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taste was. This event made me realize that Pratyahara can only be perfect when all the senses
are forgotten as I forgot my taste.”
When you control your sexual lusts as above, you are already halfway. That is what the holy
Ramu thought about this. When you do not control the senses you will not be able to go to
heaven. The author of the Yoga Sutra’s says that Pratyahara can give you total control of your
senses. Hopefully he who wants to achieve Self-realization will bring his behavior in
accordance with above instructions.